Fishing with C.S. Lewis and Robert Barron: YL Catholic Relations & the Art of Catching Nones

A friend contacted me recently to ask my advice about a good C.S. Lewis book for her husband. That’s a lot like asking me for the best Henri Nouwen book. They’re all so good it’s impossible to pick one (so I recommended the complete compilation of C.S. Lewis signature classics, of course!). But it prompted me to pull my own copy of Mere Christianity off the shelf and refamiliarize myself. 

I was immediately struck by the description of Lewis’ original motivations to write what would become a timeless spiritual classic for Protestants and Catholics alike: “Ever since I became a Christian I have thought that the best, perhaps the only, service I could do for my unbelieving neighbors was to explain and defend the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times.” Somehow from the beginning, Lewis intuited that the world needed an articulate presentation of Christianity’s heart, not its peripheries, its center of gravity, not its disputed boundaries. 

His ecumenical instincts were beautifully attuned to the signs of the times. He rightly observed that disputes among Christians were, first of all, often matters of high theology suited only for real experts. But he also noted that discussions about controversial points hadn’t the slightest chance of bringing outsiders into the Christian fold. He chose to “fish” for men and women (Mt 4:19; Lk 5:10) with the proposition of “mere” Christianity, a term he borrowed from the oft-forgotten 17^thcentury figure Richard Baxter. By “mere” he didn’t mean minor or measly, but essential and foundational, the very core of the Christian tradition.  

Fast forward to the 21^stcentury and we meet another towering evangelical fisherman, Bishop Robert Barron. Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles and founder of Word on Fire Ministries, Barron’s effectiveness in proclaiming the Gospel to the postmodern generation can be aptly compared to Lewis’ influence on the generation of moderns before him. Like Lewis, who never hid his Anglican convictions, Barron is solidly Catholic, but he also knows that focusing on the divisions isn’t going to win any converts.

“You’re not going to get a lot of nones coming back to church if you’re ranting and raving,” Barron says. “You have to be more inviting, finding positive things in the culture you can identify with.”[1]Noting the influence of Saint Pope John Paul II, one of his heroes, Barron exhorts, “You should never be browbeating, aggressive, prideful, and all that. Never impose, always propose.”[2]

Why is this missionary strategy so effective (note Barron’s online videos have been viewed over 30 million times and his Facebook followers now number over 1.5 million)? It’s because Bishop Barron is sharply attuned to his audience. He knows that we are living in the age of widespread secularism, skepticism and unbelief. Like Lewis, Barron’s evangelical strategy begins with the kerygmatic core of Christianity, that positive, Christocentric message that Jesus Christ is the thing our restless hearts most yearn for. 

This same approach is at the center of the growing movement of Young Life Catholic Relations. Beginning with what Pope Francis calls “the essentials, that which is most beautiful, most grand, most appealing and most necessary”[3]we seek to address the startling rise of “the nones”, those who aren’t arguing about this denomination or that but who have no religious affiliation at all. How? With a winsome proclamation of Jesus Christ, with real relationships and a steady ministry of accompaniment, and with a spirit of partnership that stacks hands on that “center, rather that Someone, who against all divergencies of belief, all memories of mutual persecution, speaks [to us] with the same voice.”[4]

To find out more about how you can participate in this growing movement of unity and evangelization please click here.

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[1]Robert Barron, To Light a Fire on the Earth: Proclaiming the Gospel in a Secular Age (Image Books, NY: 2017), 124.

[2]Ibid, 115.

[3]Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), 35. 

[4]C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity found in The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics  (HarperCollins: NY, 2002), 8.